





















































9 



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THE DOG THAT WENT 
TO THE DOCTOR 

AND OTHER TRUE STORIES OF REAL ANIMALS 





































“There sat poor little Paddy.’' 










THE DOG THAT WENT 
< TO THE DOCTOR 

AND OTHER TRUE STORIES 
OF REAL ANIMALS 


y * by 

O GERALDINE O’GRADY 

ii 

ILLUSTRATED BY 

W. M. BERGER 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 
















/ 


?Zi ° 
0$2. 

°T } 2 


Copyright, 1929, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 
All rights reserved 

The Dog That Went to the Doctor 


# 

* * < 

* 1 

« ♦ < 


Printed in U. S. A. 


SEP 18 1929 

©CIA 1245 8 







To 

EMILIE POULSSON, 

and to the 

grown-up, child, and animal friends 
that look at me pleasantly 
from the pages of the book that 
would not have been written 
without them. 


/ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 

The Dog That Went to the Doctor . 19 

CHAPTER II 

The Cat’s Nest.23 

CHAPTER III 


Taxi.27 

CHAPTER IV 

A Squirrel Story .33 

CHAPTER V 


Nippy, the Chipmunk.37 

CHAPTER VI 

Curious Things About Cats and Dogs 41 

CHAPTER VII 

The Stray Pussy.44 

CHAPTER VIII 

A Faithful Father .47 


7 




8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

PASS 

Fuss and Jet. 

CHAPTER X 

• • 53 

Jane Wood-Box. 

CHAPTER XI 

• • 56 

The Robin That Liked Milk . 

CHAPTER XII 

. 64 

Canaries. 

CHAPTER XIII 

. . 67 

Animal Friendships . . . 

CHAPTER XIV 

• • 73 

Piggy And His Chum . . . 

CHAPTER XV 

. 76 

Two Dog Friends. 

CHAPTER XVI 

. . 8i> 

Prince and the Kittens . . 

CHAPTER XVII 

OO 

• 

• 

The Mouse Family .... 

CHAPTER XVIII 

. 89 

Jenkins. 

• • 93 






CONTENTS 

9 

CHAPTER XIX 

PAGE 

The Pet Crow. 

. 98 

CHAPTER XX 

Job. 

. 102 

CHAPTER XXI 

The Disappointed Ducks . . . 

. 107 

CHAPTER XXII 

The Swan Family. 

. Ill 

CHAPTER XXIII 

The Mischievous Ponies . . . 

• ”5 

CHAPTER XXIV 

The Horse That Could Be Trusted 

. 120 

CHAPTER XXV 

More About Canaries .... 

. 122 

CHAPTER XXVI 

The Bird That Wanted Medicine 

. 125 

CHAPTER XXVII 

Birds That Like to Talk . . . 

. 129 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

Parrot Stories . 

. 132 




1 

io CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XXIX 

The Jackdaw That Liked Sport . . 139 

CHAPTER XXX 

The Polite Chimpanzees .... 144 

CHAPTER XXXI 

Sheep in Palestine.149 

CHAPTER XXXII 

Dandy.155 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

The Cat That Wanted a Watch . .160 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

Are Hens Stupid? .164 

CHAPTER XXXV 

The Signalman’s Friend . . . .168 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

The Pet Deer.172 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

Jock.176 







ILLUSTRATIONS 


There sat poor little Paddy (Page 21) 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

A cat’s nest.25 

Taxi opened his mouth and gave a howl 29 

Father Squirrel had found the biscuits! . 36 

He would eat sitting on my shoulder . 39 

Some chicks cuddled in his long hair . 42 

Peggy liked to chase a ball .... 46 

The strange cat and kittens settled down 49 

Fuss got very little of the cake ... 54 

Sometimes Effie would dress her in the 

doll’s cape and bonnet .... 61 

The bird always pushed over the water . 66 

He splashed until they became quite wet 71 

One day a pigeon came to his plate . . 74 


11 



12 ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Piggy must have covered miles in a day, 


following Joe.77 

Colonel was carrying the stick in his 

mouth.83 

How angry she was!.87 

Holding tightly to his mother’s tail! . 91 

That bad little dog used to run over the 

coal.96 

He liked to climb the clothes-horse . . 105 


They followed her about the farmyard . 108 

They could sleep floating on the water . 112 

He and Bob ran into the field together . 117 

He discovered a baby between the horse’s 

feet.121 

He liked to fly among the plants . .123 

I fed him cake soaked in medicine . .127 

He was carried about on his master’s 

finger.130 

He struck the note on the piano . . . 135 

He followed the children to school . . 141 






ILLUSTRATIONS 


They act as if they were having a party . 
The shepherd looks about very carefully 
Arm in arm with the little boy . 

She put it under the rug. 

Polly’s master stood at the gate . 

Jack helping to do the housework 

Racing a street-car. 

Jock sits up and begs very nicely . . . 


i3 

PAGE 

145 

152 

i S 8 

161 

166 

170 

x 74 

179 


J . 




V 




•* •. 








• i 


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1* 




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• V 


* 



















1 




I 
















TO THE CHILDREN WHO 
HAVE ANIMAL FRIENDS 

I have written these true stories about 
animals, not because they are strange or 
wonderful—perhaps each of you could 
tell me something as strange about your 
pets—but because if we compare many 
different stories, we notice animals more, 
and we understand them better. 

Notice how animals do things; 
whether they can see and hear and smell 
as well as we can, or better; how they 
learn, and what they find out for them¬ 
selves ; and how much their friendliness 
to us depends on our being kind and pa¬ 
tient—never teasing them nor making 
them afraid of us. 

is 


TO THE CHILDREN 


16 

Of course, they must be trained to be¬ 
have well and to be clean, but as soon as 
you have made friends with them, they 
will nearly always try to do what you 
vvant, if they understand it. 

Remember not to try to make friends 
too quickly with any animal. If they 
don’t understand what you mean, they 
may hurt you. It is best to wait until they 
are used to seeing you, hearing you talk, 
and smelling you. They depend much 
more on their ears and noses than on 
their eyes for knowing people. We 
depend more on our eyes and ears. I 
hope yours will tell you much about 
animals. 

Nearly all these things about which I 
have written happened with animals that 
belonged to my family or to people I 
know. A few that happened in other 


i 


TO THE CHILDREN 


17 


countries were written in letters to mag¬ 
azines by people who gave assurance 
that the stories were true. 

C. GERALDINE O’GRADY. 


Winnetka, 111. 






THE DOG 

THAT WENT TO THE DOCTOR 


AND OTHER TRUE STORIES 
OF REAL ANIMALS 


CHAPTER I 


THE DOG THAT WENT TO THE DOCTOR 


P ADDY was sick. When a little 
dog is sick and doesn’t know 
what is the matter with him, he 
wants his master. Paddy would have 
gone a long way to find his master, if he 
had known where to go. But his master 
was a soldier and had gone far away over 
the sea. 

But Paddy found he still had friends. 


19 


20 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


There were kind people to look after a 
lonely little dog, and when his master’s 
brother found that Paddy was sick, he 
quickly took him to the best dog doctor 
he could find. It didn’t seem pleasant at 
first, to be kept in a kennel and to be 
obliged to take medicine, but the doctor 
was kind, and in a little while Paddy was 
able to go home again, quite well. 

Still, he was restless and liked to go 
trotting about the city streets when he 
was let out. Perhaps he was looking for 
his master. 

He had not seen the doctor, and the 
doctor had not seen him, for a long time. 
But one day, about three months after 
his illness, there was a noise of scratch¬ 
ing and whining at the doctor’s office 
door. “See what that noise is,” he said to 
his assistant. “Our dogs are all shut up.” 


TO THE DOCTOR 


21 


The man opened the door and there 
sat poor little Paddy, holding up a 
crushed and bleeding paw. Quickly they 
brought him in, washed and bandaged 
his paw, and then telephoned to his 
home. 

“How did the dog come to be with 
you?” asked Paddy’s mistress. “We 
didn’t take him. We did not know he had 
met with any accident.” 

“Go out and see if you can find the 
blood-trail from the dog’s paw,” said the 
doctor to his man. “Follow it up and see 
if you can find out how he came here.” 

The trail led to the corner of a street, 
two long blocks from the doctor’s office, 
where a man was working on a build¬ 
ing. 

“Did you see a little dog get hurt near 
here?” the doctor’s assistant asked him. 


22 


THE DOG THAT JVENT 


“Yes, I did,” said the man. “The little 
fellow was running across the street 
when a delivery-wagon came out of the 
alley-way and knocked him down. He 
sat up in a minute or two, but he seemed 
a bit dazed. Then he began looking 
about him, and suddenly he started off 
down the street up which you came, go¬ 
ing as fast as he could on three legs.” 

Little Paddy had picked out the right 
door to go to for help in his trouble. 
His paw was made well again, and his 
friends did their best to see that he had 
no more accidents. 


CHAPTER II 

THE CAT’S NEST 

T HE farm was a lovely place— 
there was no doubt about that. 
It was a good place for a cat, 
too, even if she had no tail, and couldn’t 
have fun chasing it. Tip had no tail—I 
think her mother had had no tail, and 
must have come from the Isle of Man 
where all the cats go without tails. But as 
Tip had never had one, she didn’t mind 
much. And so many things were nice at 
the farm: there was Anna, the little girl 
who petted Tip and gave her a saucer of 
milk every night; there were birds to 
chase and field-mice to catch, and some- 


23 


24 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


times a spool of cotton or a ball of wool 
on the floor to play with—until some¬ 
body took it away.There was another cat 
to play with, too, Blackie, that was 
always ready for a game. But there was 
one horrid thing—there were two, in 
fact—the dogs, Mollie and Chip, that 
chased poor kitty until she had to run up 
a tree to get away from them. 

But the orchard truly was a nice place, 
with many trees—trees with short trunks 
that Tip could climb quickly. So Tip be¬ 
came an “orchard cat.” There are house- 
cats and store-cats, and warehouse-cats 
and alley-cats, but I never knew an or¬ 
chard cat till I saw Tip. 

That was Tip’s first year of life; and 
by next spring, she knew so well how to 
catch field-mice and to take care of her¬ 
self, in the orchard, that she only came to 



TO THE DOCTOR 25 

the house once a day for her saucer of 
milk. 

One day when I was at the farm, 
Anna and I followed her down to the 
the orchard, and 
we saw Tip run 
up a very old tree, 
that had . a vine 
climbing over it. 

We peeped under 
the vine, for we 
heard mewing— 
ever so much of 
it. What did we 
see? A real nest— 
a cat’s nest—in 
a hollow at the a cat’s nest 
top of the trunk. The nest was full of dry 
leaves, and on the leaves were four nice 
things that we had not seen before at 






26 THE DOG THAT WENT 

the farm. Four kittens! And Tip had 
found this safe place to keep them in un¬ 
til they were old enough to run away 
from the dogs. 

Three of them had tails, and one was 
just like Tip and had no tail. After that, 
the dogs were not allowed to chase Tip. 
And her kittens were soon old enough 
to come up to the farmhouse. 


CHAPTER III 

TAXI 

“r ■ ^AXI,” said Mrs. Sanders to 
I her little dog, “we have been 
-JL for a long ride, and I believe 
you’re hungry. If you want a biscuit, 
you must show me where they are.” 

Taxi looked hard at his mistress, and 
she said again, “Want a biscuit, Taxi?” 

Taxi was sure now, for he had heard 
“biscuit” twice over. He ran to the cab¬ 
inet and reached up as high as he could 
to touch the drawer where his biscuits 
were kept. Now he got a nice biscuit, but 
when he had eaten it, his mistress wanted 
him to do more tricks, for a friend had 


27 


2 8 THE DOG THAT WENT 

come to see her, and she was very proud 
of Taxi’s cleverness. 

“The postman has just whistled,” she 
said. “Taxi, go to the head of the stairs, 
and call Anna.” Anna was the maid. 

Taxi ran to the head of the stairs and 
gave two little sharp barks, that sounded 
like “Na, na.” 

The maid came into the hall, and then 
his mistress called out, “Taxi, go down¬ 
stairs and bring me the letters.” 

Taxi trotted down-stairs, and Anna 
took two letters out of the mail-box and 
gave them to him to carry up-stairs. He 
laid them at his mistress’ feet and stood 
wagging his tail. “He does so like to be 
petted and praised,” she said laughing, 
and he got a good petting and patting. 

“Can he do any more tricks?” asked 
the visitor. 



TAXI OPENED HIS MOUTH AND GAVE A HOWL 


2g 













































































TO THE DOCTOR 


3i 


Mrs. Sanders had a merry look as she 
said, “Don’t you think I’m a good dog- 
trainer? Taxi, go to the closet and bring 
my slippers.” 

Off trotted Taxi to the closet, and came 
back with one slipper, seeming quite 
proud. 

“Taxi, Taxi,” said his mistress, “what 
a foolish little dog you are! I can’t wear 
one slipper. Go and bring the other.” 
He looked at her feet, then ran to the 
closet and brought back the other slip¬ 
per. 

“Now, Taxi,” she said, “will you go 
and sing us a little song?” 

Taxi climbed on the piano-bench and 
put his paws on the keys, then he opened 
his mouth and gave a howl. 

“No, oh, no, Taxi,” said Mrs. San¬ 
ders, “I don’t like that noise. Sing a little 


3 2 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


soft song.” So then Taxi made a soft 
little whining noise, as he strummed the 
keys. Don’t you think he was clever? 
Where did he live? In Chicago. 



CHAPTER IV 

A SQUIRREL STORY 

M Y friend, the Boy Scout, says 

that, at home in the woods, 
a squirrel has two nests: a 
winter and a summer one. The winter 
one is large and placed in a hollow tree, 
or in a crotch of the branches; the sum¬ 
mer one is made on a high bough to keep 
the young ones safe. It does not need to 
be large, for, in summer, the squirrels 
pick up food anywhere, and do not need 
the nuts that they store away for the win¬ 
ter. They are very quick to make friends 
with any one who feeds them, and soon 
grow bold enough to come close. 


33 



34 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


“Chitter chatter, chitter chatter, chit- 
ter chatter,” said little Red Squirrel in a 
rage. I think he meant: “What do you 
mean by coming down for my food?” 
He was clinging to the trunk of a big 
tree near a summer cottage, and talking 
to his little wife up above in the branches. 

In the cottage my friend, Miss 
Frances, lived, and she had made friends 
with little Red Squirrel. Every day she 
put pieces of bread or nuts on the 
steps of the cottage, and every day he 
came for them; but when little Mrs. 
Squirrel wanted to come for some, too, 
he scolded her and chased her back to 
the nest where their babies were. One 
day, Mother Squirrel thought it was 
time to come down and bring her three 
small squirrels with her. They had never 
been out of the nest before, and she 


TO THE DOCTOR 


35 

showed them how to come down the 
tree-trunk, moving very slowly herself, 
and coaxing them on. 

They crept down, clinging tightly to 
the bark, and no doubt the poor little 
things wished themselves back in their 
safe nest. When they reached the bot¬ 
tom of the tree-trunk, they put out their 
little feet, and felt the grass. They drew 
back their paws and then felt it again be¬ 
fore they would run on it; but they 
quickly got used to the outside world, 
and soon were running down every day, 
for the biscuits Miss Frances put out for 
them. 

As the summer went on, Father Squir¬ 
rel grew very bold. One morning Miss 
Frances’ nephew, who was sleeping on a 
couch in the living-room, awoke with a 
start, as he felt something run over him. 


36 THE DOG THAT WENT 

Father Squirrel had found out where 
the biscuits were kept! He jumped 
down from the sideboard with one in his 



FATHER SQUIRREL HAD FOUND THE BISCUITS! 

mouth and scurried out of the window. 
The little rascal came early in the morn¬ 
ing, before people were up, and he had 
even found out how to open the biscuit- 
box. 






























CHAPTER V 

NIPPY, THE CHIPMUNK 

O NCE upon a time I tamed a 
chipmunk, and it was really 
quite an easy thing to do. 
Squirrels and chipmunks are friendly 
fellows, and only want encouragement. 
I was living in a tent at a summer camp 
in the woods, and the funny little chip¬ 
pies were all around in the trees. They 
were quite bold, and came down on the 
ground to examine any of my things that 
they thought looked interesting. Some¬ 
times they slipped under the tent flaps 
and raced across the floor. I put some 
peanuts on the ground near a tree and, 


37 


38 THE DOG THAT WENT 

when I kept far enough away, the little 
chipmunks came down and got them. 
One little fellow grew very bold and 
came nearer and nearer to me. At last I 
put his peanuts on the floor of the tent 
and he came in for them. Then, one day, 
I sat on the floor and put a peanut choc¬ 
olate on my knee. He sat with his bright 
little beady eyes fixed on it for some 
time, while I talked softly to him. Sud¬ 
denly he jumped to my knee, snatched 
up the candy, and raced away with it. 

After coming through that daring ad¬ 
venture safely, he soon grew so tame that 
he would eat biscuits or nuts sitting on 
my knee, my hand, or my shoulder. I 
called him Nippy. The tamer he grew, 
the greedier he became. If I thought he 
had had enough and put away the nuts, 
he sat on the floor and scolded me fu- 


TO THE DOCTOR 


39 


riously. He ran in and out of the tent 
quite freely, and I often awoke, in the 
early morning, to feel his little feet scam¬ 
pering over me. 



HE WOULD EAT SITTING ON MY SHOULDER 


One afternoon when I was lying on 
one of the cots, Nippy came in and nosed 
about. I lay quite still and watched to see 
what he would do. A box of nut candies 
was lying on another cot. Nippy went 








40 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


over to it, sniffed at it, and set to work to 
get the lid off. I expected he would nib¬ 
ble a hole in the box, but no! He pushed 
and pushed with his teeth under the edge 
of the lid. At times he stopped to rest, 
then patiently went back to his work. It 
must have taken him quite ten minutes 
to get at the sweets he wanted. 

Very soon after, I had to leave Nip 
and his friends, and return to the city, 
or I might have seen him do more funny 
tricks. 


i 


CHAPTER VI 

CURIOUS THINGS ABOUT CATS AND DOGS 


M OST cats and dogs like meat, 
but some will eat things you 
would not expect them to 


like. 

A Mr. Ramsden writes about a cat he 
has which eats like a rabbit. Apples, car¬ 
rots, cabbage, corn, and cucumbers are 
part of its food; and it likes a plate of 
green vegetables better than milk. 

A little girl I know has a cat called 
Lulu, that eats cake and jam. 

I know dogs that will eat strawberries, 
gooseberries, and raw potato. A bulldog 
that belongs to a friend of mine found 


41 




42 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


a basket of plums which had been left 
standing on the floor, and ate about half 
the basketful before any one noticed 
him. 



SOME CHICKS CUDDLED IN HIS LONG HAIR 


Another curious thing is that cats and 
dogs will often choose to take care of 
young ones that are not their own. A cat 
at Port Arthur, in Canada, has taken 
care of three baby foxes that had lost 
their mother; another cat has been tak- 















TO THE DOCTOR 


43 


ing care of five baby chicks whose 
mother strayed away and left them alone. 
The chicks run about the yard in the 
daytime, but at night they come to the 
cat and nestle in her fur. I have seen a 
picture, too, of a dog, a spaniel in Kan¬ 
sas City, that took care of some chicks 
that cuddled in his long hair. And I 
know an old mother-hen, in Colorado, 
that takes care of some very small kittens, 
when the mother-cat is away from them. 


CHAPTER VII 

THE STRAY PUSSY 

I T was a very stormy winter night. 
Miss Anne was cold, walking from 
the street-car to her New York 
boarding-house; and she felt rather 
lonely, as she thought of spending a long 
evening in her room. Yet it was too 
stormy for her to go out again. 

“Meow!” said something at her feet, 
as she went up the steps. She saw a small 
grey kitten, very wet and shivering. How 
good it seemed to think of having a pet 
for company! She picked it up, carried 
it up to her room, and went to ask the 
mistress of the house if kitty could stay. 


44 


TO THE DOCTOR 


45 


Luckily, the mistress was very good- 
natured, and the kitten was soon in a box 
that Miss Anne made warm with a bit 
of cloth for her to lie on. 

What fun the kitten and Miss Anne 
had together! Some people think cats 
don’t learn fast, but this kitten did. She 
learned to play games, her favorites be¬ 
ing “hide-and-seek” and ball games. 

If Miss Anne went and stooped down 
behind the cupboard door and called, 
“Cats! Cats!”, Pussy ran around the 
room, and then would suddenly jump on 
her mistress’ back. Then Miss Anne 
would sit down, and Pussy would hide 
behind the chair until her mistress 
looked round it and called her. She liked 
to chase and fetch a ball, whenever it 
was thrown for her, and learned to pat 
it with her paw and roll it back. 


46 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


Miss Anne gave her milk in the morn¬ 
ing, but at night she brought little bits 
from her own dinner, so that Pussy 
learned to eat very odd things. Miss 



PEGGY LIKED TO CHASE A BALL 


Anne liked corn so much that she often 
brought up an ear of it to eat cold at 
night, and Pussy always had a share of 
it, and of other things as queer. 





CHAPTER VIII 

A FAITHFUL FATHER 

O pposite our house lived 

a handsome white tom-cat 
named Jimmy. 

One morning, his young mistress, 
Jean, went out to the garden before 
breakfast. Presently she ran into the 
house greatly excited, calling: “Oh, 
Mother, come quick; there’s a strange 
tabby-cat in our garden that won’t go 
away; I chased her over to the hedge and 
found she had four little kittens hidden 
there.” 

They went out to look at the kit¬ 
tens together. “See, the two little 


47 


48 THE DOG THAT WENT 

white ones are very like Jimmy,” said 
Jean, “and the other two are like 
the mother! Do you think Jimmy 
has brought home his family in the 
night?” 

“I believe he has,” said her mother. 
“Their eyes are open, but they are not 
strong enough to walk any distance; 
Jimmy and the mother must have car¬ 
ried them in their mouths.” 

The strange cat and kittens settled 
down and made themselves quite at 
home, but Jean’s mother said that 
the cat must be taken away as soon as 
her babies were a little older, and 
that homes must be found for the kit¬ 
tens. 

The mother-cat was sent away, but 
Jean begged hard to keep the kittens 
longer, though she wondered how they 



THE STRANGE CAT AND KITTENS SETTLED DOWN 

49 

















































































TO THE DOCTOR 


5i 


would get on with no mother to bring 
them up. 

Jimmy must have felt that the care of 
the kittens depended on him, for he 
filled the mother’s place as far as pos¬ 
sible. When they quarreled, mewing, 
and scratching one another, or when one 
tried to get more than his share of food, 
Jimmy cuffed them and set them to rights 
very soon. 

It was very funny to see him wash the 
babies. He seized a kitten and held 
down the squealing little animal very 
firmly on its back, and went over it 
thoroughly with his tongue. The little 
thing had a more violent washing than 
it would have had from its mother, but 
it seemed quite clean when its bath was 


over. 


52 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


The clean, pretty little kittens pleased 
Jean’s friends, and they all found good 
homes. 

Note: We could not tell whether “Jimmy” was the 
real father of the kittens or only adopted them. We did 
not even know where they came from. But he acted like 
a good father to them. 


CHAPTER IX 

FUSS AND JET 


F USS and Jet lived together. Fuss, 
a Scotch terrier, was a rather 
slow and stupid little dog; and 
Jet, a black and tan, was as bright as a 
button. 

When the dogs’ food was put down, 
Jet always secured the best of it, while 
Fuss was still poking about for titbits. 
By gobbling twice as fast as Fuss, Jet 
managed to make away with twice his 
share. 

When afternoon tea was served in the 
living-room, Fuss and Jet were always 
on hand, eager for goodies; but Fuss got 


53 


54 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


very little of the cake that was given to 
them, for, the moment it was put down, 
Jet made a dash for the nearest corner. 
There he crouched, seeming to quiver 
with excitement, scratching and sniffing 
as if he smelt a mouse. Fuss dashed after 



FUSS GOT VERY LITTLE OF THE CAKE 


him, determined not to be too late for 
the hunt. As soon as Fuss reached the 
corner, back Jet ran to the cake; he had 
bolted the bit meant for Fuss and was 
quietly eating his own when Fuss re¬ 
turned, disappointed, from the supposed 
mouse-hole. 


i 






TO THE DOCTOR 


55 


Time and time again, Jet repeated the 
trick, and Fuss was always deceived. 
When Jet rushed to the wall, Fuss would 
look at the cake and then, not able to 
resist, follow Jet, only to find that that 
greedy little fellow had tricked him. 


CHAPTER X 

JANE WOOD-BOX 


I N a small western town lived a little 
girl of eight. She was very fond of 
the chickens in the barnyard; the 
ones that came out in the spring were 
such attractive little balls of yellow and 
brown fluff, and it was such fun to feed 
them and have them come running to 
her and tumbling over one another in 
their hurry to get to the pan of cornmeal 
dough that she brought. 

But chickens, like little girls, will 
grow up; and by the fall, there were no 
more little ones. Her pets were fully 
dressed in feathers, and she could not 



TO THE DOCTOR 


57 


pick them up in her hand any more. But, 
one morning in November, when Effie 
—that was her name—ran out to the 
chicken-house to look for eggs, one of 
the hens got off her nest—and—what a 
surprise! She had a wee, fluffy yellow 
chick under her wing. Effie ran to tell 
her mother and to ask if the new chick 
might be hers. 

“Dear me,” said Mother, “what a 
stupid hen to hatch it at this time of year! 
If I had known, I would have chased 
her off the nest, for the chicken will 
never grow up. The snow will be here 
in a week, and the cold will kill it.” 

“Oh, don’t let it die!” cried Effie. 
“Let us bring it into the house.” 

“There’s no place to keep it,” said her 
mother. “It would be under everybody’s 
feet and get trodden on.” 




58 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


Effie looked about. Her bright eyes 
spied a large empty wood-box behind 
the stove. They had burned wood in the 
stove until this year, but now they had a 
new coal-stove, and the wood-box was no 
longer used. 

“Mother dear,” she coaxed, “please let 
me keep it in the wood-box. It can’t get 
out, and I will take such good care of it.” 

“Well,” said her mother, “it will be 
some trouble for you to keep the box 
clean, but you may try it.” 

In another week, the snow lay on the 
ground and the chicken was carried into 
the house. Some sawdust on the floor of 
the box made it a good home for Effie’s 
pet, and she was careful to give it food 
and water every day. 

“I shall call her Jane Wood-box,” said 
Effie. 


TO THE DOCTOR 


59 


Jane Wood-box lived happily through 
the winter, and grew so fond of her little 
mistress that Effie could take her out of 
the box and Jane would stay quietly be¬ 
side her. Sometimes Effie would dress 
her in the big doll’s cape and bonnet, 
and Jane would sit in a rocking-chair 
looking like a tiny old lady, with a beak 
for a nose. 

But a surprise was coming. One day, 
Jane sat on the edge of the wood-box— 
and crowed—just like a rooster! 

Effie, who was in the kitchen, picked 
up Jane in her arms and ran into the 
other room to her mother. “Mother,” 
she cried, “Jane can crow!” And, as if 

to show her powers, Jane crowed again. 

« 

“It’s a rooster after all,” said Mother. 
How father laughed at the crowing hen! 

Soon spring came and Jane was let 



60 THE DOG THAT WENT 

out, to run in the yard with the other 
fowls. But one morning, when the door 
stood open, in walked Jane with a little 
white hen. Now began a funny scene. 
Jane had made up his mind that the white 
hen was to go into the wood-box. He 
hopped up on the edge and down again, 
pushed her towards it, and made funny 
noises. At last the little hen did hop up. 
Jane hopped after, and pushed her, so 
that she had to hop in. Effie was much 
pleased. She ran to get food and water 
for them, and they came to be so much 
at home there that they came in from the 
chicken-yard every night at sundown. 

One morning, there was another sur¬ 
prise. The little white hen laid an egg in 
the wood-box; and, of course, Effie had 
that for her next breakfast. But when¬ 
ever Jane’s mate was in the wood-box 



SOMETIMES EFFIE WOULD DRESS HER IN THE DOLL’S 

CAPE AND BONNET 
61 






































































































































TO THE DOCTOR 


63 

and Effie brought people to look at her, 
Jane sat on the edge and scolded them, 
till they went away again. Mother said 
she couldn’t have chickens in the kitchen 
in hot weather, so the box was put out 
in the chicken-house. But Jane and the 
little hen still went into it at night, and 
Effie brought them their own dishes of 
food and water every morning. 


CHAPTER XI 

THE ROBIN THAT LIKED MILK 

A FRIEND of mine, Mrs. 

Bligh, spent much of her time 
working in the garden. She 
was very fond of the birds that came for 
the fat worms which she turned up in 
breaking the earth. She used to talk to 
them as she worked, and threw crumbs 
on the ground for them. Some of them 
soon became very friendly and returned 
every day. One little fellow actually had 
courage to follow her through the back 
door; he came into the kitchen and 
perched on the furniture, chirping hap¬ 
pily. He must have enjoyed his visit, for 

64 


TO THE DOCTOR 


65. 

not only did he repeat it every day, but 
he came back to the garden for five sum¬ 
mers, always tame and friendly. She 
called him Johnny. 

This robin, that often hopped after 
Mrs. Bligh, chirping in answer to her 
whistle, was a greedy little chap that 
sometimes got more than his fair share 
of crumbs. One day Mrs. Bligh thought 
she would play a little trick on him, so 
she put his crumbs in a twist of paper 
and threw it to him. He pecked and 
pulled at the paper till he got it open, 
and ate the crumbs. Then she put worms 
in a paper, and he pulled those out and 
swallowed them. 

One morning she set down a doll’s 
cup of water which the little bird seemed 
to enjoy. The next day, she put out the 
doll’s cup of water, and one of milk, to 


66 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


see what he would do, and then he did 
give her a surprise! He sipped the water, 
hopped over and sipped the milk—re¬ 
turned to the water cup, and knocked it 
over. Then he finished the milk! 



THE BIRD ALWAYS PUSHED OVER THE WATER 


Mrs. Bligh put out the water and milk 
several times, but that saucy little bird 
always pushed over the water, twittering 
angrily, as much as to say, “No, indeed, 
if you try to pass this off on me, you must 
think I am a stupid fellow!” 







CHAPTER XII 

CANARIES 

W HY do we have canaries in 

cages? For one reason, be¬ 
cause they do not belong to 
this country and are not wild birds here. 
Our wild birds learn to know where to 
find food, where to build their nests, and 
of what to make them. They are born in 
nests, and the father-bird and mother- 
bird teach them what to do. 

But canaries come from a far-away 
land and, even if they are born and bred 
here, they are born in cages. If one 
makes pets of them, one must be very 
careful about giving fresh food and 

67 


68 THE DOG THAT WENT 

water fevery day, and giving the right 
kind of food, for the poor little things 
cannot care for themselves or look for 
food. They would not know where to 
find food, as the wild birds do. 

The cages, too, must be kept very 
clean, or the birds will get ill and be un¬ 
happy. Then they will lose their sweet 
song and, perhaps, even die. 

The reason we like to keep them is for 
their lovely song. The best singers have 
learned their songs from older birds. 
They sometimes learn to imitate notes 
that they hear from other birds that .are 
not canaries. 

Where do you suppose they came 
from? First of all, from islands called 
the Canary Isles in the Atlantic Ocean. 
A long time ago, some people from Eu- 


TO THE DOCTOR 69 

rope were shipwrecked on these islands. 
No one had ever been there before, as 
far as we know, at least, not from Eu¬ 
rope. They found some large wild dogs 
there, and they called the islands “Can¬ 
aries,” meaning Dog Islands, or the 
Place of Dogs. But there were many 
trees also, and, in these trees, were little 
yellowish-green birds that sang very 
sweetly. 

When a ship came along and took the 
wanderers home, they took with them 
some of the birds. These birds were taken 
to Germany, and cared for there, so that 
they settled down, as if it were their 
home. The best singing canaries are still 
brought from there. Some canaries now 
are green, and some are yellow. Birds 
and animals often change their coats a 


70 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


little, or their looks, when they change 
their place of living, though it usually 
takes a long time. 

Now I will tell you a story about some 
canaries. A pair were kept in a cage by 
a Mrs. Barlow who lived in the south of 
France. She gave them some wool and 
other things of which she thought they 
would like to make a nest. Very soon, 
they did make one. The mother-bird laid 
eggs in it and, in a few weeks, hatched 
out three little ones. The father seemed 
very pleased. He was most devoted to 
the mother and the little ones, bringing 
them food; and one day, the first time 
they were old enough to leave the nest, 
he took the three little fellows over to 
the tub, where he had his bath, which he 
liked very much. I don’t know how he 
planned out his way of bathing himself 


TO THE DOCTOR 


7i 


and the little ones, but it was quite clever. 
He put them on each side, and one at the 
end of the tub. Then he hopped into it 
and splashed until they, as well as he, 
became quite wet. He fluffed up his 



HE SPLASHED UNTIL THEY BECAME QUITE WET 

feathers, and then did more splashing. 
After that, he got out, pushed the little 
fellows over to the corner of the cage, 
and gave them a real lesson in drying 
their feathers. That went very well. The 





















































72 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


young ones began to imitate him, and 
learned fast. 

Next day, however, the little mother 
went over to the bath and jumped in. The 
biggest of the young birds seemed to 
think he wanted a bath, too, and hopped 
after her. He could not get in, but he 
stood beside the tub cheeping and chirp¬ 
ing. No answer from his mother; she 
took no notice at all. At last he pulled 
her tail to make her attend to him. This 
made her so angry that she jumped out, 
pushed him into the corner, knocked 
him about, and gave him a severe beat¬ 
ing. After that, he was willing to let his 
father bathe him. 


CHAPTER XIII 

ANIMAL FRIENDSHIPS 


O NE of the oddest things to no¬ 
tice about animals is the 
friendships they make. It does 
not seem odd that dogs should make 
friends with other dogs, but sometimes 
a dog and a cat will be great friends, 
and for a horse to make friends with a 
pig is strange. 

Another odd friendship I know of is 
between a dog, a big retriever, and a 
pigeon. A retriever is trained to follow 
hunters and to bring back the birds they 
shoot, so it was very strange that he 
should be friends with a pigeon. His 


73 


74 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


owner kept many pigeons, and Carlo did 
not like them, for they were always fly¬ 
ing down from the roof, and carrying 
off bits of his dinner. He chased them 
away, but it made him very cross to be 



ONE DAY A PIGEON CAME TO HIS PLATE 


disturbed when he was enjoying a nice 
dinner and to lose some of it to those 
saucy birds. 

But, one day, a pigeon that had been 
hurt and was dragging its wing, came 






TO THE DOCTOR 


75 


to his plate. Carlo looked at it and seemed 
to understand that it was hurt. He did 
not drive it away, but let the pigeon eat 
as much as it wanted. After that, the bird 
came every day, and he and the dog had 
dinner together for a long time. 


CHAPTER XIV 

PIGGY AND HIS CHUM 


W HAT a large field it was! Or, 
what a large field it seemed 
for Piggy’s short legs to 
cross, backwards and forwards, all 
morning! And why did his friend, the 
big farm-horse, go on crossing it so 
many times? Little black-and-white 
Piggy could not answer this question, 
could not even put it into words, only in 
squeals; but the people who watched him 
trotting after his friend, Big Joe, as he 
drew the plough across the fields, won¬ 
dered at Piggy’s patience in following. 

76 



PIGGY MUST HAVE COVERED MILES IN A DAY, FOL¬ 
LOWING JOE 
77 



















' 








TO THE DOCTOR 


79 


He did not seem to care to grub in the 
yard with his brothers and sisters when 
he could follow Joe, for he loved Joe. 
From the time he was a small pig, he 
followed Joe all over the farm. 

Sometimes, while the horse was 
ploughing, Piggy would smell some¬ 
thing to eat at the side of the field, and 
begin to grub for it, or an apple would 
fall where he could reach it, from the 
tree outside the fence. When he looked 
up again, Joe would be far off at the 
other end of the field. Off Piggy would 
scamper to him, as fast as his short legs 
could carry him, squealing and grunt¬ 
ing in distress. Pigs are not given to 
much running, but little Piggy must 
have covered miles in a day, following 
Joe. He grew quite thin from so much 


80 THE DOG THAT WENT 

exercise, but this gave him a longer life, 
as only fat pigs are good to eat, so the 
two friends were together for a long 
time. 


i 


CHAPTER XV 

TWO DOG FRIENDS 

C OLONEL” was big, and 
“Toby” was little. Colonel 
was old, and Toby was young, 
just a puppy. Colonel was fond of going 
on long hikes to the end of the farm 
where he lived, and beyond. Toby’s 
short legs could not do much more than 
waddle, but the two were so fond of each 
other that they wanted to be constantly 
together. 

Toby trotted or waddled after Colonel 
on his long trips till his little legs were 
so tired that he could hardly walk at all 
when they got home. His master said 

81 


82 THE DOG THAT WENT 

that would never do, so he put a chain 
on little Toby and fastened it to a heavy 
piece of wood. Toby whined and fretted 
when his big friend went off without 
him, and Colonel soon came back; he 
did not like to go without Toby. 

After a few days, Colonel and Toby 
were both gone one afternoon. Their 
mistress went to look for them and 
found them some distance down the 
road. Colonel was carrying the stick of 
wood in his mouth and Toby was trot¬ 
ting beside him. After that, Toby was 
kept in the house until Colonel had 
started for his walk. But the two friends 
went together again when Toby grew 
bigger. 

Colonel was quite old then. He was 
losing his teeth, and could not chew hard 
bones any more. A large plate of scraps 


TO THE DOCTOR 83 

and bones was put out for the two dogs 
every day. But Colonel was very slow 
getting through his share. 

One day his master found out that he 
was getting blind, too, and was afraid 



COLONEL WAS CARRYING THE STICK IN HIS 

MOUTH 


he could not live much longer. Watch¬ 
ing the two dogs, he found that Toby 
was looking after his old friend and tak¬ 
ing care that he had enough to eat. 








84 THE DOG THAT WENT 

When the plate of food was put down by 
the kennel, Toby picked out the soft 
pieces and laid them in front of Colonel, 
then chewed the bones himself. His 
master wondered how he could have 
found out what was good for his friend. 
He seemed quite willing to give all the 
choicest bits to him. Wasn’t it nice that 
poor old Colonel had a little friend to 
look after him? 


CHAPTER XVI 

PRINCE AND THE KITTENS 


P RINCE was a dog that loved to 
play. His master and mistress 
played with him, but people 
don’t always understand how dogs want 
to play, and what he liked best was to 
romp with the kitten. He often picked 
her up by the back of the neck and car¬ 
ried her out into the yard where he 
rolled her over and over, backwards and 
forwards on the grass. Kitty, in return, 
would come and pull Prince’s tail, or his 
ears, when he was lying asleep on the 
door-step. Then Prince jumped up and 
chased her. 


85 


86 THE DOG THAT WENT 

Sometimes Kitty would climb a tree, 
and Prince, at the foot of it, waited till 
she got half-way up, then caught hold 
of her hind leg and pulled her down 
again. Kitty never was cross, and, at 
night, she always cuddled up beside 
Prince and they slept together. 

When Kitty grew older and had kit¬ 
tens of her own, Prince played with 
them, too; the kittens seemed to like to 
be rolled over and pulled about. Prince 
loved those fluffy, furry things. When 
at last it happened that the cats were all 
given away, he was very lonely for his 
playmates. 

One day an old cat came into the yard 
where Prince was lying. Here was a 
playmate again, Prince thought; here 
was his chance. So he ran to the cat, 


TO THE DOCTOR 87 

caught her by the back of the neck, and 
began rolling her over and over on the 
grass. How angry she was! She had 
never been handled that way before, and 
she didn’t like it a bit. First, she spit at 



HOW ANGRY SHE WAS! 


him: p’sst—p’sst! Then she put out her 
claws and scratched! Then she spit 
again, and scratched until she nearly 
scratched the poor dog’s eyes out. 

Prince got away, and looked at her in 



















88 THE DOG THAT WENT 

such a puzzled way; he couldn’t make 
it out at all; he only meant to be friendly. 
But the cat snarled and ran out of the 
yard; and Prince did not try to play with 
strange cats any more. 


I 


CHAPTER XVII 

THE MOUSE FAMILY 

I N the summer camp was a dining- 
hall where fifty schoolgirls took 
their meals. They laughed, they 
shouted, they bubbled over with noisy 
fun. But little Mother Mouse, with her 
four wee mice in a cozy nest on the 
beams of the roof, thought such a noisy 
room was no good place for her babies, 
and set out to move them somewhere else. 

She crept along the big beam in the 
roof, carrying one little fellow in her 
mouth. She held him tightly by the back 
of his neck, but his four paws were hang¬ 
ing down in front of her; and what hard 

8 9 



90 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


work it was to creep with him, down the 
rough post at the end of the beam. The 
noise was worse than ever, for all the 
girls jumped up, screamed, and pointed 
• at poor wee mousie. But she kept on 
bravely, until she reached a shelf in the 
corner, and then stopped to rest. What 
did she see but an old cracked cup by 
the ledge in the wall! It must have looked 
rather like a nest to her—at any rate, a 
place the baby mouse could stay in, for 
she carried him to it, got up on the ledge, 
and dropped him in, then ran back up 
the wall to fetch the next one. 

It was a long way to go back and 
forth, and little Mother Mouse must 
have thought so, for next time she found 
a way to bring two together. How did 
she ever think of it? And how did she tell 
it to her children? For when she brought 



TO THE DOCTOR 91 

the third baby over the beam, the fourth 
came, too, holding tightly to his mother’s 
tail! 

Now the girls jumped and yelled 
louder than ever with delight; but this 



HOLDING TIGHTLY TO HIS MOTHER’S TAIL! 


frightened the poor wee fellow so much 
that he let go of his mother, and ran 
back fast to his hole. 

Mother Mouse would not allow that. 
She felt that he was safer with her, and 
she must fetch him, so back she went, 
and soon came out with number four 























92 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


holding on by her tail again. How, I 
wonder, did she tell him not to be afraid? 

By this time, the girls knew it was a 
shame to frighten the tiny things, so the 
little mother was able to bring all the 
babies to the old cup. There they stayed 
for that evening, and, by next morning, 
Mother Mouse had taken them all away 
to some place she thought safer. 

Note: Martin Johnson, the famous traveler who makes 
moving pictures of elephants, tells us that when going 
through heavy long grass, baby elephants hold on tight 
by the mother’s tail. Perhaps there are other creatures 
that do this. Who will be the first to tell of some other 
baby doing it? 


CHAPTER XVIII 

JENKINS 


J ENKINS, a wee mite of a fox ter¬ 
rier, was as bright as he could be, 
and noticed all that went on in the 
house. The sound of the sharpening of 
a carving-knife, in the kitchen, was the 
signal for Jenkins’ rush to the place. He 
almost fell down-stairs in his eagerness. 
He would stand straight upon his hind 
legs, sniffing the air. Then, finding him¬ 
self too small to see over the edge of the 
table, he backed away until he could see 
what was on it, and then begged for 
some of the meat. 

When Jenkins wanted some one to 


93 


94 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


play with him, he first sat up and begged, 
then got behind the leg of a table and 
peeped around it. Next, he made little 
rushes on either side of it, inviting a 
playfellow to rush at him in turn. 

Sometimes his mistress paid no atten¬ 
tion, on purpose; then Jenkins climbed 
on her chair and gave her arm a little 
pat. If that brought no response, he 
climbed up again and softly touched her 
cheek. When she said, “Well, what is 
it, Jenkins?” he sat up at once, begging, 
and went back to his table leg. 

Many a good romp he had; what he en¬ 
joyed most was to have his mistress chase 
him round and round the dining-room 
table. Sometimes he would turn on his 
tracks to get away; sometimes she would 
turn, and he had to bolt in the opposite 


TO THE DOCTOR 


95 


direction, filling the house with high, 
excited barks. 

The grandmother who lived in the 
house used to sit in a rocking-chair knit¬ 
ting or reading. As soon as Jenkins en¬ 
tered the room he made straight for her, 
wanting to climb on her lap. Sometimes, 
seeing him coming, she leaned forward, 
holding her book on her knees so that 
there was no room for him. Then the 
little dog jumped in behind her back 
and, climbing up, put his two little fore¬ 
paws on her shoulders, then put his head 
around and licked her cheek. No one 
could resist that! 

It was Grandmother’s special business 
to wash Jenkins, and he hated this. He 
wriggled and whined all the time, then, 
when he was clean and still damp, rolled 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


96 

up in an old shawl on the heater, he 
would wait until he was left alone. Very 
softly he used to creep out of the shawl 



THAT BAD LITTLE DOG USED TO RUN OVER 

THE COAL 


and down to the coal cellar. There, that 
bad little dog used to run over the coal. 
Then he would look all over the house 
until he found Grandmother. He stood 
up stiffly before her, black from head to 
foot, as much as to say, “There! you’ve 














TO THE DOCTOR 


97 


washed me, and much good may it do 
you!” 

There was nothing to do but wash 
him over again and see that he did not 
get away a second time. 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE PET CROW 


S OME children whom I know were 
taking a walk in the woods, when 
they came upon a young crow 
that had fallen to the ground from its 
nest. The little fellow was helpless and 
frightened, but not much the worse for 
the fall, and they carried him home to 
keep as a pet. 

Dick, as they called him, soon grew 
to know them, and was so clever that 
the whole family became very fond of 
him. To their surprise, he began to im¬ 
itate sounds and calls of his own accord, 
and when they repeated words for him 


TO THE DOCTOR 


99 


to learn, he memorized new ones very 
quickly. Very soon he called all the fam¬ 
ily by name. He used to sit on the gate¬ 
post and watch for Mr. T. to come home 
from business. As soon as he appeared 
in the distance, he was greeted by Dick’s 
call, “Papa, Papa; I see Papa.” 

Dick loved to pick a bone and then 
bury it. He always kept it till Mr. T. 
came home, and then called loudly, 
“Papa, Papa; come here, Papa.” The 
two would bury the bone together, Mr. 
T. digging the hole and Dick helping to 
shove the earth in with his beak and feet. 
But when Mr. T. went to his dinner, 
Dick would look slyly all about, and, if 
he saw no one watching, he would dig 
up the bone and bury it again in a place 
of his own. 

When the children went to school, 

> 

l > 

> > » 


100 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


Dick sat on the window-sill watching 
them, and cried just like a child. Some¬ 
times Mamma said, “Oh, Dick, you must 
stop that dreadful crying—be quiet.” 
Dick had quite a snappish temper, and 
answered, “I won’t,” sobbing louder 
than ever. 

One morning, he suddenly stopped 
crying and flew to the top of a tree from 
which he could watch the children go¬ 
ing down the street, and then flew after 
them. 

A little later, when John got up to re¬ 
cite, a voice was heard at the school¬ 
room window, calling, “I want John, I 
want John!” 

The teacher said John might open the 
window and let Dick in, so he sat on 
John’s shoulder and made friends with 
the other boys. If he talked too much, he 



TO THE DOCTOR 


IOI 


was put outside. Then he sat on the win¬ 
dow-sill and cried again. 

Dick was sometimes naughty. He 
would walk about on the beds, if he got 
up-stairs, and soil the coverlets. If Mam¬ 
ma found him doing this, she whipped 
him with a little switch. This made Dick 
very cross; after that, when the family 
came down in the morning, he would 
say: “Good morning, Papa.” “Good 
morning, Dolly.” “Good morning, 
John.” 

But when Mrs. T. said “Good morn¬ 
ing, Dick,” he would only answer by a 
very cross grunt. Still, he was so clever 
and amusing that even his mischief and 
temper did not trouble any one very 
much. 


CHAPTER XX 

JOB 


T HE first time we ever saw our 
dear Job he was in a large 
warehouse behind a grocer’s 
shop. He lived there with his mother and 
brothers and sisters, chasing the ware¬ 
house rats and mice and seldom seeing 
any people. 

When one of the men in charge picked 
him up to show him to us, he struggled 
and fought, and wanted to run and hide. 
At that time he was neither a kitten nor 
a full-grown cat, but a “catten,” as we 
called him. A few days later, a man 
brought him to our house in a covered 


102 


TO THE DOCTOR 


103 


basket. Poor thing! When the lid was 
raised, in the kitchen, he seemed dazed; 
for a minute or two he did not move; 
then, he made a wild dash behind a cup¬ 
board, and no urging or coaxing could 
get him out. He stayed there all day. At 
night, we left a saucer of food near the 
cupboard. The next morning, the food 
was gone, but the shy kitty was in hid¬ 
ing again. 

Ruth, the maid, was distressed about 
him, for she loved pets. She placed his 
food regularly, and all day she talked to 
him, in a quiet tone of voice, just as she 
would have talked to a friend in the 
room. At last he ventured out in daylight 
to get his food, and then stayed out for 
five minutes. At the end of three days, 
he stayed out longer, but was still rather 
wild and shy, except with Ruth. How- 


104 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


ever, in time, all the family made friends 
with him. We gave him the name of Job. 
And he soon grew to be a large hand¬ 
some cat with a beautiful silky gray coat 
and a tiny white tie under his chin. 

Job did not often mew in the usual cat 
tones, but made little gurgling, crooning 
noises, such as a cat makes to her kittens. 
He would walk into a room in which 
people were sitting and greet them with 
a gurgle, as much as to say: “Oh, here 
you are! I was lonely without you.” 

Job had many unusual tricks. He 
liked to climb the extension clothes- 
horse. When he reached the top, he 
stretched himself at full length, with his 
forepaws resting on one rung and his 
hind paws on the other, which might 
well seem impossible. He cut many cap- 


TO THE DOCTOR 105 

ers on the clothes-horse in the most lively 
way. 

Job begged perfectly. He sat up on 
his hind legs, his little back straight and 



HE LIKED TO CLIMB THE CLOTHES-HORSE 


stiff, forepaws turned down, waiting for 
a morsel of his favorite sweetbread or 
raw potato. He not only sat up to beg 
but walked backwards on his hind legs, 
for something nicer than usual. 




















106 THE DOG THAT WENT 

Job was a most affectionate pet. At one 
time, Ruth had been away ill for several 
months. When Job saw her, he rushed 
to her, making strange, loving little 
noises, that we never heard at other 
times. He climbed up her dress, put his 
forepaws on her shoulders, and rubbed 
his head against her. After that he fol¬ 
lowed her about, not letting her out of 
his sight. 

He was a very clever and loving pussy, 
and it was a great sorrow when he died. 


CHAPTER XXI 

THE DISAPPOINTED DUCKS 


T HERE were nine little duck¬ 
lings in the duck family. Five 
of them were grey and yellow, 
two were brown, and two were black and 
grey. They had a hen-mother to take care 
of them, for the farmer had bought some 
ducks’ eggs and put them under a hen to 
be hatched. But the ducks were quite 
happy to waddle about after the hen- 
mother, and to eat the worms and grubs 
that she scratched up. For a while, they 
followed her about the farmyard and the 
orchard; but one day, some of the older 
ducks in the yard went across the or¬ 
chard and out through the break in the 


107 


108 THE DOG THAT WENT 

fence to the other side. There was a 
meadow with a pond in it, and very soon 
the other barnyard fowls followed them. 
The hens and chickens scratched about 



THEY FOLLOWED HER ABOUT THE FARMYARD 

and picked up worms, but when the 
ducks saw the water, they ran to 
it and very soon were paddling and 
splashing in the cool pond. The duck¬ 
lings ran, too; they did not have to be 
taught how to swim, they knew how to 




TO THE DOCTOR 


109 


use their broad flat feet at once, and, 
though their hen-mother clucked and 
scolded and tried to get them back, they 
had a good swim. 

What a fine swimming-bath that was! 
All the summer they went to the pond; 
but one cold, frosty morning in October, 
there was a surprise waiting for them. 
When they came to the edge of the pond, 
they expected to glide gently into the 
water as usual; but, instead, they found 
themselves on a slippery surface just 
like glass. They could not understand 
what had happened. They tried to wad¬ 
dle farther, but their feet slipped from 
under them; they wobbled and wiggled, 
falling now to one side, now to the other, 
as if they were trying to learn to skate, 
and doing it very badly. 

It was quite hard to get them off the 


I IO 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


ice, for it was not thick enough to bear 
a person’s weight. Billy, the boy who fed 
the chickens, called to them, but he was 
laughing so much at their tumbles that 
he could hardly speak. The ducklings 
tried to come, but their short legs slipped 
from under them, and they got on very 
slowly; and when they were finally 
coaxed off the ice, they did not go again. 
But they must have wondered where 
their nice swimming-pool had gone. 


CHAPTER XXII 

THE SWAN FAMILY 


I N a pretty river bordered by parks, 
which runs through the town of 
Stratford, two beautiful white 
swans were placed, several years ago. 
They were soon at home in the water, 
but they were shy about coming on land 
at first, even for food. 

A shelter was built for them under a 
little bridge, but they would hardly ever 
use it, even in winter. They could sleep 
floating on the water, and on a winter 
night they were sometimes frozen into 
the ice, which had to be chopped with 
axes next morning. 


I 12 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


Their heavy bodies, on short legs set 
wide apart, look top-heavy and clumsy 
on land. But, in the water, only the upper 
half of their bodies can be seen, and that 
is reflected below, with their long necks 
curving forward as they float along. 



THEY COULD SLEEP FLOATING ON THE WATER 


In the spring the pair built a nest, 
among the reeds by the river, but no one 
could get near enough to see it without 
being chased by the angry father-swan. 































TO THE DOCTOR 


ii3 

Ruffling up his wings and rearing up, 
he ran upon the water to chase away 
people who came by in boats or canoes. 
Sometimes he caught hold of a boat, 
leaving the marks of his strong beak on 
it; and he upset one canoe. 

When the mother-swan brought out 
seven little gray birds, he kept watch 
over them; but no one hurt them, and 
by and by they grew quite tame and 
swam after the boats, to get pieces of 
bread. 

The wings of the young swans had to 
be clipped to keep them from flying 
away, but before the park-keepers could 
do it, they had to lasso Father Swan. 

Then they began to surprise their 
owners. One morning no swans were on 
the river. Where were they? 

Far up the street leading from the end 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


114 

of the little lake, a procession marched 
—all the swans, old and young. They 
turned in at the first garden they came 
to—there were some nice gardens round 
the lake—and soon they were gobbling 
fresh young lettuce, cabbages, spinach, 
young beets—they had never tasted any¬ 
thing so good. 

The owner of the house ran out and 
tried to chase them away; but when the 
big swans reared up and flapped their 
wings, she ran back in a fright. 

Two or three neighbors came to help 
her, and it was funny to see the women 
shaking aprons and brooms at the swans; 
the swans gobbling away, but, now and 
then, stopping to run at the women and 
children in the yard. At last, they had to 
get the firemen to drive the swan family 
away. 





CHAPTER XXIII 

THE MISCHIEVOUS PONIES 

I N my grandfather’s house there 
lived four jolly children: three 
boys and a girl; and in the stable 
near by, they kept two little Shetland 
ponies, Bob and Tom, that lived in ad¬ 
joining stalls and were great chums. 

Every morning the ponies were let out 
to graze and play in a big field. The chil¬ 
dren used to play in the field also, and 
liked to ride the ponies and make them 
gallop; the ponies enjoyed the fun, too, 
for a time, but when they thought they 
had had enough, they would give a sud¬ 
den bounce, and down the children 


116 THE DOG THAT WENT 

would come in a heap. When they tried 
to climb up again, Tom and Bob used to 
lie down on the grass and roll; then, 
when the teasing children had given up 
trying to ride, the ponies would run off 
by themselves, very much pleased. 

One morning the horse-doctor was 
coming to see Bob, so Tom was sent out 
into the field by himself, while Bob was 
kept in his stall. When the doctor came, 
no Bob was to be found in the stable. To 
every one’s surprise, he was discovered 
in the field with Tom. Of course they 
wanted to know how he had found his 
way out, so once more Tom was sent out 
into the field and Bob was kept at home, 
while the children hid themselves and 
watched the stable. Presently Tom 
trotted up to the window behind Bob’s 
stall and whinnied, pushing his nose up 




































































TO THE DOCTOR 119 

against the bars, and the children heard 
an answering whinny from the inside. 
Then Tom trotted to the door and pushed 
with his nose at the latch until, after 
much trouble, he managed to work it up 
and get the door open. Then he and Bob, 
free once more, ran into the field to¬ 
gether. 

Horses and ponies will go a long way 
to find a chum they have lost. Mr. Van 
Dyke tells us, in his book about the west¬ 
ern ranches, that, if you take a horse 
from his mates, you must be careful 
to see that he is well fastened up at night, 
or he will slip away, and sometimes 
travel as much as seventy-five miles to 
get back to a companion for which he 


cares. 


CHAPTER XXIV 

THE HORSE THAT COULD BE TRUSTED 

I N the same stable with Tom and 
Bob lived a clever, gentle horse 
named Robin. My grandfather was 
very fond of Robin, and understood how 
wise the horse was. Robin could be 
trusted to find his way very well about 
the roads he was accustomed to travel. 
His master often used to let the reins lie 
slack on the horse’s neck and read his 
letters as they took their way homeward, 
for he was a very busy man and his work 
took him much about the country roads. 

One day, as he was riding home, read¬ 
ing his letters and not looking at the 
road ahead, he suddenly felt that there 


120 



TO THE DOCTOR 


I 2 I 


was something queer about Robin’s 
walk. Looking down, he saw that the 
horse, that had slowed down to a walk, 
was lifting his feet high at each step and 



HE DISCOVERED A BABY BETWEEN THE HORSE’S 


FEET 

picking his way with great care. To his 
astonishment, he discovered a baby be¬ 
tween the horse’s feet. The little thing 
had been crawling in the road and had 
been saved by the wise Robin. 










CHAPTER XXV 

MORE ABOUT CANARIES 

C ANARIES, indeed all birds, 
are often tricky and mis¬ 
chievous. Have you ever kept 
a canary so long that it became quite 
tame and could be allowed to fly about 
the room? I know one that would fly 
round his mistress when she was writing 
and try to pull the pen out of her hand, or 
to pull the thread out of her needle when 
she was sewing; and when she or some 
one else opened her mouth wide laugh¬ 
ing, sometimes birdie would try to fly 
right in. He loved to perch on his mas¬ 
ter’s shoulder or his hand, and if his mas- 


122 


TO THE DOCTOR 


123 


ter put a lump of sugar or a piece of bis¬ 
cuit between his lips, Dicky would come 
and peck at it. 

This friend had another bird named 



HE LIKED TO FLY AMONG THE PLANTS 


Pat, whose cage was in a greenhouse, 
and he liked to be allowed to fly among 
the plants. He would call and “cheep” 
when he wanted to be let out, but they 
did not open his cage-door unless some 
one could stay in the room to take care 













































124 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


of him. So, if his mistress was busy and 
took no notice of him, sometimes, Annie, 
the maid, who was very fond of Pat, 
would come and say, “Ah, is she being 
unkind to a poor little bird with pains in 
his legs?” 

At once the tricky little fellow would 
crouch down on his perch and pretend 
that his legs were very bad; but as soon 
as he was let out, he flew about gaily, 
keeping just out of reach, when they 
wanted to put him back in his cage, as 
if he were playing a game, for there was 
really nothing the matter with his legs. 


CHAPTER XXVI 

THE BIRD THAT WANTED MEDICINE 


T HE small shop of the locksmith 
was in a busy part of New 
York. It was near a great col¬ 
lege, and was not a place where you 
would expect to find pets, but there was 
a bird and animal shop near by. The 
little old locksmith was cheery and 
chatty, and I asked him if people kept 
pets in the apartment-houses of the 
neighborhood. 

“I should say they do,” he laughed. 
“Look around my shop.” I did look, and 
counted ten bird-cages. 

“IVe been a janitor,” he went on, “and 

I2S 


126 THE DOG THAT WENT 

when the people move away, they often 
don’t want to take their birds, and so 
they give them to me. I don’t take any 
other sort of pets, but folks have other 
kinds that would make you stare. The 
bird-shop man is a friend of mine and, 
last winter, he had a wildcat for sale— 
fierce as a young tiger, it was. A lady 
had it in her apartment, but the other 
folks around made objections to it, and 
I wouldn’t have stood for it myself—she 
had to let it go. There was a professor 
and his wife who had three monkeys in 
their apartment—he was studying their 
ways, he said. 

“Go, talk to that bird in the window,” 
he added. I went up to a handsome can¬ 
ary that hung in the window, but my 
coaxing and whistling brought only 


TO THE DOCTOR 


127 


coughs and choking sounds from the 
little fellow. 

“What a dreadful cold the poor little 



I FED HIM CAKE SOAKED IN MEDICINE 


chap has,” I said. “Can’t you do any¬ 
thing for it?” 

The locksmith laughed. “He hasn’t a 
cold,” he said. “He had a severe attack 
of asthma last spring because the people 










































































128 THE DOG THAT WENT 

who owned him left him hanging out¬ 
side the window one frosty night. They 
thought he was of no more use, and gave 
him to me. I cured him—put a drop of 
sweet medicine in his water-glass every 
day, and fed him sponge cake soaked in 
it. He’s well now, but he tries to make 
me think he’s sick, to get more medi- 
cine.” 


CHAPTER XXVII 


BIRDS THAT LIKE TO TALK 


B IRDS that learn quickly and 
easily to talk are the crow, the 
raven, the English starling, and 
the jackdaw. 

Charles Dickens, the great writer, has 
told, in his letters, about his pet raven 
that could talk very well; and one of 
his books, “Barnaby Rudge” is about a 
boy and his pet raven, “Grip.” 

A doctor who had a pet starling wrote 
about it in the magazine called Cham¬ 
bers Journal, which prints many stories 
about birds and animals. This starling 
was so tame that he was allowed to fly all 
about his master’s room, and was often 


129 


130 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


carried about on his master’s finger. He 
was very fond of catching flies and liked 
to be carried to pick them off a picture- 
frame or any high place. He called a fly 



HE WAS CARRIED ABOUT ON HIS MASTER’S 

FINGER 


a “Klink,” and would say to his master, 
“Doctor, shall we go a-klinking?” 

He must have invented that name, for 
no one taught it to him. 

He called his master “the darling doc- 

































TO THE DOCTOR 131 

tor” and often called himself “the dar¬ 
ling starling.” Sometimes he would say, 
“Doctor, is the darling starling a pretty 
pet?” He had learned words and sen¬ 
tences by hearing them repeated, but he 
often put them together in his own way, 
and so do other birds that learn to talk. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 

PARROT STORIES 


S OME birds are much cleverer 
than others at learning to talk. 
Parrots, especially the African 
gray parrot that has a scarlet tail, 
learn more easily than other birds. But 
a good many parrots say only, “Polly 
wants a cracker” or “Good morning.” I 
think it is because people do not know 
that it takes much patience and much 
time to teach them, though they will 
pick up for themselves words that they 
hear very often, such as the names of 
people. 

A parrot that lived in Seattle was in 


132 


TO THE DOCTOR 


133 


a house where the people played and 
sang a great deal. It learned to whistle 
tunes and to sing two or three songs. One 
day its master had a friend there, and he 

wanted Polly to sing for her. Polly sang 

/ 

one verse of a song, and stopped. “Go 
on, Polly, you know the rest,” said her 
master. No, Polly would not sing 
another word! At last, her master said 
sharply, “Polly, if you don’t sing I shall 
have to punish you. I’ll give you one 
more chance.” He struck the note on the 
piano. Polly was stubborn, still. He 
stretched out his hand to her. Polly 
looked up and shrieked, “Now there’s 
going to be a hot time here!” It really 
seemed just as if she were making fun of 
her master. 

Polly became very tame and a great 
pet, so the door of her cage was often 


134 


THE DOG THAT WENT 

left open, and she was allowed to follow 
her friends about the house. 

The electric lights were new, and 
Polly liked to see them work; but the 
house was often dark in the evening, for 
the family went out to concerts, fre¬ 
quently. When the bill for the light came 
in, at the end of the month, Polly’s mas¬ 
ter was surprised that it was so large. 

“We couldn’t have used so much 
light,” he said, “for we have been out so 
often lately.” 

That night all the family were out 
again, but one of them had to come back 
for something. As he came near, he saw 
the house all lighted up, though he knew 
it had been left dark. Very softly he 
opened the door and slipped in, thinking 
to catch a thief, perhaps. There sat Polly, 
perched on a chair by the row of electric 



HE STRUCK THE NOTE ON THE PIANO 

135 




















































































































































































I 








TO THE DOCTOR 


i 37 

buttons in the hall. She had watched and 
learned to turn the lights on, and was 
having a good time. 

A friend of mine in Scotland has sent 
me this story of an African gray parrot. 
He likes so much to talk that he practises 
new words and sentences he has heard 
when he is by himself, and he imitates 
all the sounds he hears. If you laugh, he 
will laugh, too, or pretend to cough or 
sneeze when you do. He can whistle 
several tunes; and when his cage is 
covered up, or uncovered, he says, 
“Peek-a-boo!” 

When he is thirsty, he says, “I want a 
drink,” and after he gets it, he will often 
say, “That’s nice, eh?” He will recite 
“Mary had a little lamb” and other 
verses, and he calls the names of all the 


i 3 8 THE DOG THAT WENT 

people in the house, sometimes saying, 
“Come on, come here.” He is very 
gentle, perhaps because his master has 
been very gentle and patient in teaching 
him. He will take biscuit or sugar from 
his master’s lips without ever making a 
sharp peck. He used to scratch his head 
with his claws. Some one gave him a 
tooth-brush, and now he uses that to 
brush his head several times a day. This 
parrot is over twenty years old, and some 
of them live to be fifty years old. 


CHAPTER XXIX 

THE JACKDAW THAT LIKED SPORT 

T HE jackdaw is a cousin of the 
crow and very much like it, 
only rather smaller. The jack¬ 
daw that I am going to tell you about be¬ 
longed to a Mr. Wilson of Denham, in 
England. He was a good talker, and 
could say many short sentences, such as: 
“Come in,” “Go away,” “I sha’n’t,” 
“Good night,” etc., and could speak the 
names of Mr. Wilson’s children and of 
all their playmates who came to the 
house. 

“Jack” was sometimes very mischie- 


139 


140 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


vous; he would take all sorts of things 
and hide them, for instance, money out 
of Mrs. Wilson’s purse, or his master’s 
tobacco. 

He followed the children to school, 
where he behaved very well, except for 
trying to drink the ink; but he took the 
greatest interest in games, especially a 
football match. He would stay and 
watch, as long as his playmates stayed, 
though you would hardly think a bird 
could understand what was going on; 
and when something exciting happened, 
such as his friends’ side scoring a goal, 
he would get as much excited as the 
boys, hopping and flying up and 
down the line, and calling out, “Oil 
Oi! Oi!” 

It is very curious that when ani¬ 
mals or any creatures become fond of 



HE FOLLOWED THE CHILDREN TO SCHOOL 

141 



















































































































































































TO THE DOCTOR 


i 43 


human beings, they often seem to take 
more interest in our doings than 
in what creatures of their own kind 
do. 


CHAPTER XXX 

THE POLITE CHIMPANZEES 

I AM sure you like to go to the Zoo, 
don’t you? That is, if you live in a 
city large enough to have one, or 
when you visit a city. But it costs a good 
deal to get wild animals from jungles or 
forests in far-away countries, and a great 
deal more to build the right kind of pens 
for them to live in; for if they are to be 
healthy, their pens must be, as much as 
possible, like a little bit of the place they 
came from. 

Some of you may have been to the 
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and seen 
the funny monkeys and other animals 


144 




THEY ACT AS IF THEY WERE HAVING A PARTY 

i45 







































































































































































TO THE DOCTOR 


i47 


there; some may have been to the Bronx 
Park Zoo in the city of New York, and 
seen wonderful animals there; but I am 
sure very few of you have been to the 
Zoo in London, England. 

This story is about some chimpanzees 
that live there. Do you know what a 
chimpanzee is? It is a monkey that 
grows quite big, as big as a large boy, 
and is very clever at learning things. 

In the Zoo in London live four baby 
chimpanzees. At least they did live there, 
two or three years ago, and I hope they 
do still. They must have a good keeper, 
for they have learned to do clever things 
and to behave so well. 

These are their names: Jackie, Jim¬ 
mie, Clarence, and Bibi; and they have 
a small table and four tiny armchairs. 
Every afternoon at three o’clock they sit 


148 THE DOG THAT WENT 

at the table in these chairs; on the table 
are placed four enamel mugs and plates, 
with a plate of biscuits or some kind of 
food. First, they have a drink of milk out 
of their mugs; then Jackie, the eldest, 
hands the food to each in turn. 

They act as if they were having a party 
and behave with such good manners! 

After the food is eaten, they have an¬ 
other drink of milk. Sometimes Jackie 
remembers to pass the plate again; some¬ 
times the keeper has to remind him. 
After that, Jackie goes to Bibi, the 
youngest, and helps her out of her chair. 
They all shake hands, and then they go 
to bed like good children. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


SHEEP IN PALESTINE 



E think that sheep are rather 
stupid animals. They never 
seem to do anything interest¬ 


ing or clever, at least in our country. But 
perhaps it is because we don’t make 
friends with them. It is so much easier 
to make pets of birds and small animals 
like squirrels. 

But I know one story about sheep that 
shows how much they can learn from 
people who make friends with them, as 
their shepherds sometimes do in Pales¬ 
tine. Palestine has very many Jewish 
people in it, and the Jewish lady who told 


150 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


me about these sheep had lived there all 
the time during her childhood, a good 
many years ago. 

She said, “When I was a little girl, my 
brothers and I liked to watch the shep¬ 
herds taking care of my father’s sheep 
and to follow them about. The sheep in 
Palestine are not stupid like the sheep 
here, because the shepherds talk to them, 
and sometimes make pets of them and let 
them into their houses. They give them 
names as if they were people, and the 
sheep know their names. They come 
when they are called. Often they have 
pretty names, such as Rose and Lily. 

“After the sheep have eaten all the 
grass in the place nearest to where they 
belong, the shepherd may have to take 
them some distance to the next pasture. 
The ground between may be rough and 


TO THE DOCTOR 


IS 1 

stony, or the path may be overgrown 
with thorny plants that will catch in the 
sheeps’ wool. So, first, the shepherd goes 
over the path and cuts away the thorns, 
with a big knife that he carries. 

“The pastures are not flat green 
meadows, but patches of green grass, on 
the sides of the high hills and mountains, 
with ravines and valleys between, where 
the sheep might wander away and might 
get lost; and there are many, many cran- 
nies among the rocky places where wild 
animals may hide, and seize the sheep if 
they come near. So the shepherd looks 
about, very carefully. He notices also 
whether there is water for the sheep in 
the new place, for sometimes the moun¬ 
tain streams dry up in summer. Then he 
comes back and calls to the sheep. They 
all stand up when he calls them. He says 


152 THE DOG THAT WENT 

to them, ‘Come! walk in line. Put the 
little ones in front.’ And the sheep get 
into line, pushing the young ones for- 



THE SHEPHERD LOOKS ABOUT VERY CAREFULLY 


ward. If there is a very young lamb, too 
weak to walk so far, the shepherd will 
take it in his arms and carry it. If the 
flock of sheep is large, there may be 
more than one shepherd, and more 
lambs to carry. 











TO THE DOCTOR 


15 3 


“When the line is ready, the shepherds 
call again and the sheep follow to the 
new pasture. The shepherds have a queer 
high call, of two or three notes. We chil¬ 
dren liked to imitate it and tried to get 
the sheep to follow us. But it is quite 
true, as the Bible says, that the sheep 
know their own shepherd’s voice and 
will not follow a stranger. The timid 
ones would run away from us, and the 
old rams would be angry. They ran at 
us and tried to chase us away, butting 
us with their heads. 

“Very often the shepherds stay out all 
night with the sheep, if there is any dan¬ 
ger from wild animals, and they carry 
a strong heavy stick or staff, with which 
to protect the sheep.” 

After I heard this story, I thought it 
was no wonder that a good shepherd 


154 the dog that went 

makes the sheep fond of him; and sheep, 
like all other animals, can learn much 
from people they like—people who are 
kind and patient. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


DANDY 


w 


E do not know exactly how 
animals learn things, but the 
more we talk to them and 


play with them, the more they learn to 
understand words and actions and to 
know what certain things are for. Dogs 
certainly learn that you mean to go out 
when you put on a hat or coat, and they 
learn what some sounds mean. 

Dandy was one of the cleverest little 
dogs you could imagine. His mistress, 
Miss Ethel, made a great pet of him. 

Dandy could walk on his hind legs, 
shake hands, and find things for which 


155 


156 THE DOG THAT WENT 

he was sent to look. He never failed to 
offer his paw to each person when the 
family came down in the morning. Miss 
Ethel’s mother was an invalid and did 
not come down, so Miss Ethel would 
say, “But, Dandy, you have not shaken 
hands with Mother yet.” 

Dandy would look at her and cock 
his ear, as if he were recalling something 
to mind, then would rush up-stairs to the 
invalid’s room, and offer his paw. 

When callers came to the house, 
Dandy always came into the room. 
When Miss Ethel made a very slight 
movement of her hand, which Dandy 
understood, he would politely offer his 
paw to the visitor. One day an old lady 
came, and Dandy greeted her as usual. 
“But,” she exclaimed, “surely it’s only 
an accident. He wouldn’t do that again.” 


TO THE DOCTOR 


i57 


Miss Ethel made her little sign, so 
slightly that a stranger would not notice 
it. Dandy crossed the room and repeated 
the handshaking. 

A neighbor of Miss Ethel’s was very 
fond of the little fellow and often saved 
a bone or titbit for him. Then she would 
telephone to his mistress and ask her to 
send Dandy over. Miss Ethel would turn 
from the telephone and say very quietly 
to Dandy, “Mrs. Myers has a bone for 
you,” and he was off like a shot, to Mrs. 
Myers’ house, eager for the treat. 

Miss Ethel often went to buy some¬ 
thing at a corner grocery near by, and 
next to the grocery there was a butcher’s 
shop, as Dandy knew very well, for the 
butcher was one of his many friends, 
and often had a bone for him. Very soon, 
Miss Ethel noticed that, if she spoke of 


158 THE DOG THAT WENT 


going to Brown’s, the grocer’s, Dandy 
ran to the door, full of excitement. Then 
he would slip out with her, and go to see 
his friend, the butcher. 



ARM IN ARM WITH THE LITTLE BOY 


She took to spelling the word 
“Brown’s,” when the grocery had to be 
mentioned. She could hardly believe it, 
but she found in a few days that the 
clever little fellow had learned to recog- 




















































TO THE DOCTOR 


1 59 


nize B-r-o-w-n-’s, and followed her as be¬ 
fore. 

While a small nephew of hers was 
staying with her, Miss Ethel taught 
Dandy to walk on his hind legs, arm in 
arm with the little boy, and Dandy was 
very proud of the trick. Some time after 
the nephew had gone away, Dandy was 
in Brown’s, when he saw a little boy 
just the same size as the one he had 
known, standing with his back turned. 
To the little boy’s surprise, he suddenly 
felt a paw placed on his arm, and the de¬ 
lighted boy and the dog walked arm in 
arm together. The people in the shop 
were greatly amused, and all the neigh¬ 
bors were proud of Dandy. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE CAT THAT WANTED A WATCH 


I N the same house with Dandy lived 
Peggy, a pretty black-and-white 
cat, who was a great pet. One day, 
Miss Ethel noticed that a necklace of 
hers was missing. She kept some of her 
ornaments in a little tray in her bureau 
drawer. Sometimes the drawer was left 
partly open, but she could not imagine 
who could have taken the necklace. The 
next day, she noticed an odd lump in a 
rug in a corner of the hall. She went to 
smooth it out, and, much to her surprise, 
she found her necklace under it. 

The next day Miss Ethel saw Peggy 

160 



TO THE DOCTOR 161 

go through the hall with a gold chain 
in her mouth. She watched the cat play 
with it; sometimes touching it with her 
paw and drawing back quickly; then ad- 



SHE PUT IT UNDER THE RUG 


sometimes just tossing it about as a small 
kitten would. Finally she put it in the 
same hiding-place under the rug, and 
went away. Miss Ethel made up her 
mind to keep her drawer closed in the 
future. 













162 THE DOG THAT WENT 

One day Peggy took a watch off her 
mistress’ dressing-table, but it was 
rescued in time. After that, seeing how 

much the cat wanted a plaything, Miss 

• 

Ethel bought her a little toy watch, and 
kept it where she had kept the stolen 
ornaments, but if the drawer was ever 
left not quite closed, Peggy used to 
climb on the bureau and pull trinkets 
out. Anything bright and shiny at¬ 
tracted her. 

One day Miss Ethel’s brother came 
down-stairs very angry, saying his 
watch was gone. 

“You must have forgotten where you 
put it,” said Miss Ethel, “or else Peggy 
has it.” 

“No, she couldn’t have it, for I put it 
under my pillow to keep it safe from the 
cat,” he replied. 


TO THE DOCTOR 163 

When they looked under the rug, the 
watch was there, with several other 
trinkets. 

No one could ever find out how 
Peggy found the watch or got it out. 
Crows and magpies are often known to 
carry off bright things, but this is the 
only cat I have heard of that did it. Keep 
your eyes and ears open, for animals do 
many things that we never notice. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 

ARE HENS STUPID? 


A NIMALS that seem clever are 
often so because their masters 
have talked to them a great 
deal and, in time, they come to know a 
good many names and words. They 
know actions that belong to the words, 
too, such as “Sit up,” “Lie down,” “Go 
out.” Some people think hens are stupid. 
I wonder if it is only because we don’t 
often talk to hens or make friends with 
them. 

Near my home lived two men who 
kept chickens. Both of them gave names 
to the hens, and they soon knew their 


TO THE DOCTOR 165 

names and came when they were called. 
Of course, they had learned by getting 
something to eat when they came, but 
one learned to play a sort of game, and 
I don’t know how she understood it. 
When her master said, “Play dead, 
Fanny,” she would fall over quite flat, 
and not move until he said, “All right. 
Jump up again.” 

The other man had a great many 
chickens, very fine ones. These knew 
their names, too, and when he called 
“Kate!”, “Jenny!”, “Polly!”, each 
would come running to him, and seem 
to like it when he talked to them. 

One night, about twenty of the hens 
were stolen. One of his neighbors had 
some stolen also, and he brought a 
policeman and said he was going to look 
for his hens at a village some miles away, 


166 THE DOG THAT WENT 

where he suspected the thief lived. So the 
first man said he would go, too. As they 
came near the place where they hoped 
to find the hens, they saw a great flock of 
chickens, so many that it did not seem 



POLLY’S MASTER STOOD AT THE GATE 


possible to pick out their own. But as 
soon as Polly’s master stood at the gate, 
and called “Polly!”, she ran out from the 
others, and right up to him. 

He went on calling “Kate!”, “Jenny,” 
















































TO THE DOCTOR 


167 


“Sarah!”, and the hens kept coming to 
him though they were being fed. And 
the thief was so frightened, when he 
found that the hens knew their master, 
that he confessed all his thefts. 


CHAPTER XXXV 

THE SIGNALMAN’S FRIEND 
HE railway signalman, at the 



little station of Uitenhage in 


South Africa, lived in a very 
small cottage with a very small garden, 
near the station. It was his work to go to 
the signal-station and change the levers, 
whenever a train was going through. He 
lived alone, as he had no family. He did 
his own housework and took care of his 
garden in his spare time. He had no 
company except his pet, a big monkey 
of the kind called a baboon, that is big¬ 
ger and stronger than most monkeys. 
Mr. Wide—that was the signalman’s 



TO THE DOCTOR 


169 


name—called his monkey Jack; and he 
and the monkey were very fond of each 
other. 

One day, the people of the little town 
were sorry to hear that poor Mr. Wide 
had had his leg taken off in an accident. 
He would be a cripple for life. How 
would he get to his work? How would 
he earn his living? 

However, in a short time it was found 
that the signalman was still earning 
his living in the same way; still going 
to his work; still living in his little cot¬ 
tage. 

The kind people who went to see Mr. 
Wide were very much surprised at what 
they saw, for who do you think was tak¬ 
ing care of him? Jack! 

This is what they saw: Jack helping 
to do the housework; Jack helping to 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


170 

care for the garden; Jack taking the little 
lorry or car that his master went about 
in, and setting it on the rails every morn¬ 
ing; Jack helping his master to the car; 
giving him his cane; locking the cottage- 



JACK HELPING TO DO THE HOUSEWORK 


door and taking his master the key; 
going with him to the signal-station; 
and, most surprising of all, working the 
signal levers for him, with never an acci¬ 
dent or a mistake. How could such a 
















TO THE DOCTOR 


171 

creature, born in the wild part of South 
Africa, learn all this? 

Of course, monkeys are very quick at 
imitating people, and he had been a good 
while with his master, but the master 
must have been a very good and patient 
teacher. 

For nine years Jack lived in this way, 
taking care of Mr. Wide. But at last poor 
Jack became ill, and died. It must have 
been very sad for his master to lose such 
a faithful friend. The people who had 
watched this friendship thought it so 
wonderful that twenty-five of them 
signed a letter saying that this story of 
Jack was all true, and it was printed in 
a book about South Africa. 


CHAPTER XXXVI 

THE PET DEER 

“T| ''V ID you ever see a deer race a 

1 H street-car?” asked my friend, 
the Boy Scout. 

Indeed I never did, and of course I 
wanted to hear about it. This is what he 
told me. 

“When I was staying with Aunt May, 
I used to play with Harry and Shirley, 
and they had a pet deer. Their father 
brought him from the woods when he 
was quite young; they called him Billy. 

“You never saw anything so knowing 
as that deer. He would eat out of any¬ 
body’s hand, and they could lead him 



TO THE DOCTOR 


173 


about like a dog; he stood on his hind 
legs and did jumping and every kind of 
stunt. 

“They couldn’t keep him in the 
apartment-house where they lived, of 
course, but a man who had a yard behind 
a hotel in the next street took care of 
him; and we went and played with him 
every day. 

“Well, I started over there one morn¬ 
ing, and just round the corner I heard 
some one call out, ‘Look at the deer!’ 
There was Billy running down the street, 
racing a street-car and trying to get 
ahead of it. 

“Of course I ran, too; and you may 
believe it was exciting. At last two street- 
cleaners left their work, and chased him 
up a lane into a yard. I ran to Harry’s to 
let them know, but they were out, and 


174 


THE DOG THAT WENT 


before I came back, some one had tele¬ 
phoned the Humane Society. Their in¬ 
spector had come in his car, and taken 



RACING A STREET-CAR 

Billy to their Animal Shelter—but they 
had to rope him first. 

“Harry’s father got him back, but 
they said he ought to keep him where he 
could have more room and not be shut 
up so much, so they did. But it was as 














































TO THE DOCTOR 


i75 


good as a moving-picture to see Billy 
race the street-car.” 

Here is one more story about a tame 
deer. It was kept by a farmer and was 
so tame that it came into the house some¬ 
times. One day it picked up a piece of 
the tobacco that the farmer and his son 
chewed. The tobacco was strong and 
bitter, but the deer chewed it up, and, 
strange to say, it seemed to like it. 
The animal must have watched the 
farmer go to the shelf where he kept the 
tobacco, for, after that, it would go into 
the house when its master was out in the 
fields, and get a bit off the shelf. 

The deer wore a bell tied round its 
neck, but was so knowing that it would 
step very quietly, so as not to ring the 
bell, when it came to get the tobacco. 


CHAPTER XXXVII 

JOCK 


J OCK is a little, rough, gray Scotch 
terrier, with bright brown eyes. 
Three years ago he was taken from 
his old home to a new one. He had not 
been very happy, for there were some 
boys in the street where he lived who 
teased and frightened him. So Jock, who 
had been a good-natured little dog, be¬ 
came a grouchy, grumpy, growly one. 
He was even afraid of a hand stretched 
out to pat him, and would sometimes 
snap at it. Poor little fellow! For more 
than a year, Jock was very quiet and 
sober, in his new home. He rarely made 

176 


TO THE DOCTOR 


177 


a sound except to bark at the postman or 
at a dog that came on his ground. He 
soon loved his master and mistress, but 
he did not make other friends. 

Yet Jock really has a loving heart. 
When he found that no one ever teased 
or frightened him, he changed his ways. 
He likes to be petted now; he makes new 
friends; he even lets a friend put a muz¬ 
zle on him, without growling; and he 
likes to have the house full of people. 
He does not like to be alone, and if he 
thinks every one has gone out and left 
him, he will lift up his voice and howl 
till all the neighbors hear him. Jock 
hardly ever does any mischief; but if he 
is alone for a whole afternoon or eve¬ 
ning, he will sometimes be naughty. 

Once, he pulled all the paper and 
sticks out of the grate, w r here the fire was 


i 7 8 THE DOG THAT WENT 

laid. Once, he pulled a cushion off a 
chair and tore the cover, and, once, he 
tore up a scarf that was lying on a chair. 
Another time, he ate up a quarter of a 
pound of butter; but that was some¬ 
body’s fault for leaving it within his 
reach. If the up-stairs rooms are not shut 
up, Jock will go up and lie on the beds; 
but he never does any of these things 
when his friends are at home. He only 
does mischief when he gets very tired of 
being alone. 

Jock sits up and begs very nicely. He 
sits beside his master at breakfast, and 
when the toast comes—Jock likes toast 
—he sits up very straight and begs. If 
that is not enough, he offers a paw to 
shake hands, or he pats his master’s arm 
and then licks his cheek. One morning 
when his master took a long time to eat 



JOCK SITS UP AND BEGS VERY NICELY 

179 




















































> 



TO THE DOCTOR 181 

fruit and cereal, Jock waited patiently 
at first; but at last he sat up and said 
“Wr-oh-ow-w,” in such a weary way, it 
sounded like “I’m so tired of waiting!” 
This talking is one of Jock’s funny ways. 
He knows what many words and sounds 
mean, making answers to them when he 
can. 

If any one mentions “hat” or “coat” 
or “car,” Jock runs to the door and 
whines. If you say “Want to go, Jock?”, 
he dances or begs. But if you say “No, 
no, Jock, I’m sorry I can’t take you,” 
he sits down and looks very sober. 

If Jock hears the car turn into the 
drive or hears the door-bell, he barks or 
whines. If you say, “Go and ask some 
one to take you out,” he goes to a friend 
and whines or begs, and sometimes be¬ 
gins to make such funny sounds: “Ow- 


182 THE DOG THAT WENT 

oo-ee,” now high, now low, and now 
with a questioning tone as if he were 
coaxing, when he wants very much to go 
out. 

If any one stops him from barking or 
jumping at passing dogs when he is in 
the car, he will sometimes talk to him¬ 
self in wee little whines and growls, as 
if he said, “Why won’t they let me get at 
the dog?” 

Jock dislikes to be washed; if he hears 
the water running in the basement, and 
some one calls “Jock,” he runs away to 
the other end of the house and hides be¬ 
hind the biggest chair he can find, look- 

i 

ing very miserable. He has not many 
tricks, but he has one trick he taught 
himself. He likes to have his shaggy 
coat rubbed by somebody’s foot, and 
he will come and sit in front of you and 


TO THE DOCTOR 183 

pat your foot with his paw, if he wants 
to be rubbed. 

He and his little mistress, Nancy, 
have great fun together, and Jock, who 
was once a growly, grouchy little fellow, 
is now as happy a little dog as you could 
wish. 


THE END 



I 



A 




































































































































